If one had to pick the greatest individual performance ever in the history of the NBA, Kobe’s 81 point game against the Toronto Raptors on January 22nd, 2006 is the clear frontrunner. At halftime, the Lakers were down 71-53 and Kobe had almost half of his teams points with 26. Even though Kobe was having a great game, he realized that he had to elevate his game to a completely different level. He went off in the second half scoring 28 points in the third quarter and 27 in the fourth quarter. The Lakers ended up winning 122-104 and Kobe was overcome with his emotions. His 81 points is the second highest in NBA history after Wilt Chamberlain’s 100. However, Chamberlain played in the 1960’s when competition was scarce. Kobe shot 28-46 from the field and also ended up with 6 rebounds and 2 assists. Keep in mind that Kobe is a shooting guard, a position where the player’s main objective is to score.

L.A times

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Kobe has had many great seasons out of his 20 year career such as his 2005-06 season where he tallied 35.6 points per game and his 2009-2010 season where he single-handedly led the Lakers to there 16th NBA title. Another great year for him was 2008. In 2008, Kobe won his first and only Most Valuable Player award and then a couple months later, won a gold medal with Team USA at the Beijing Olympics.

L.A live

A big part of Kobe’s legacy is his clutch factor, or his ability to come up big in times where his team needs him. Lakers were headed to Portland on April 14, 2004 for this regular season matchup. There was a lot riding on this game. If the Lakers win, they would take the division crown home. This game ended up going into double overtime as both teams were shooting very poorly. It all came down to Kobe, who in the end shot two threes to win the game for the Lakers and take the division crown home.

https://makeagif.com/gif/kobe-bryant-incredible-game-tying-game-winning-shots-vs-portland-QGywNf

In the month of February, Kobe averaged 40 points per game. This means that over a span of 9 games, Kobe scored at least 40 points per game. This just goes to show just how dominating Kobe was on the floor.

Here’s a list of his performances.

Bleacher Report

As I’ve said before, Kobe was the most complete offensive package the NBA had ever seen. This game proved it. In January of 2003, the Lakers played the Seattle Supersonics at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The Lakers were desperate need of a win as they were only 14-20 after 34 games. They were the favorites to win the title again, their 4th time in 4 years, but tensions between Shaq and Kobe disrupted the flow of the team.
This game was never really close to begin with as the Lakers were up 15 points at halftime. This was because Kobe had decided to go off beyond the arc. At the end of the game, Kobe had scored 12 threes. He had broken the record for most threes in a single game. After the game, it was official. Kobe was unguardable.

http://www.basketball-reference.com

In one of my previous blogs, I wrote about Michael Jordan and Kobe’s first duel back in 1998 and how it signaled the forthcoming of one of the best shooting guards of all time. This game showed the world that the “forthcoming” had arrived. In 2002, MJ was out of his prime and his game was rusty as he had just come out of his second retirement. Kobe however, was approaching his prime and he displayed against the Wizards. He ended up scoring 55 points, beating down a washed up Michael Jordan. This was the start to Kobe’s dominance. For the next 6 7-8 years, he would continue to terrify defenders on the court with his arsenal of offensive weapons.

The Los Angeles Lakers and the Portland Trailblazers were clearly the best two teams in 2000, and they showed that by dominating their way to the Western Conference Finals (basically the semifinals for the NBA). The Lakers jumped to a 3-1 lead in the series, but the Trailblazers won two straight times to tie the series up. Game 7 of this series truly showed why these were the two teams in the WCF. Game 7 ended up being a slug fest with the Blazers up 71-58 at the end of the third quarter. The Lakers were in serious trouble, their offense was struggling to score points against the Blazers tough defense. Phil Jackson, the coach of the Lakers, decided to call a timeout early in the fourth quarter to get this lakers squad to regroup. What happened after the timeout is the stuff of legends. Being down 13 points with only 5 minutes to go in the game, the Lakers needed some magic from their dynamic duo, Kobe and Shaq and that’s what they got. Kobe dribble down the court, faked out an opponent and threw an alley-oop to Shaq which he slammed down (This play will be shown at the end of this blog). This play sparked momentum for the Lakers and they ended up scoring 31 points that quarter, 18 unanswered, and they ended up winning the game. Even though this was a team accomplishment, I put this as one of Kobe’s best moments because of the leadership he showed for the team as a 22 year old.

Here is the said play, one of my favorite plays of all time.

On December 6th, 2000, Kobe Bryant torched the Golden State Warriors defense by scoring 51 points, his first 50+ point game of his career. He would go on to score at least 50 points 24 other times, a record that is yet to be broken. Even though they lost this game, this game showed everyone that Kobe was a force to be reckoned with. Out of the total 35 shots he took, he made 18 of them as well while putting up 8 rebounds and 7 assists.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200012080LAL.html

Imagine being voted into the NBA All-Star Game(game where the league’s best players play against each other)at the age of 19, the age where most kids that are in their freshman year of college. This was a dream for most kids out there, but for Kobe, it was reality. Kobe was only 19 years old, the youngest ever, to be voted into the All-Star game.

The fact that Kobe could go toe to toe at the league’s best players at the age of 19 made fans ecstatic, especially Los Angeles Lakers fans. He came off the bench and dropped 18 points and 6 rebounds against his childhood idol, Michael Jordan who ended up winning Most Valuable Player. Here are some highlights from the game.

https://www.google.com/search?q=kobe+bryant+1998+all+star+game+gif&safe=strict&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS812US812&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjq_uvAn6TeAhWnneAKHeszDksQ_AUIDigB&biw=1366&bih=657#imgrc=bZrO0nA2S_WZiM:

Kobe would go on to play in 17 other all star games, the second most in NBA history.

It might seem like having one dunk in a blog series about a legendary player’s top moments might be crazy, but the message it sent out wasn’t. This dunk struck fear into all big, strong defenders of the late 90’s.

“Big Ben” Wallace, a power forward/center for the now retired Washington Bullets, is considered one of the best defenders of all time. His big, strong, 6’9 frame gave him the ability to give the offensive players nightmares. He went on to win 4 defensive player of year awards in his career (all time NBA record he shares with Dikembe Mutombo). Kobe Bryant was just in his second year when he made the play of his lifetime (He has more than one play of a lifetime).

The Los Angeles Lakers were playing the Washington Bullets and they were down by 13. They needed some momentum and Kobe Bryant did just that. He took the matters into his own hands by crossing up one defender and started heading straight for the rim. There awaited Ben Wallace eyeing him down, hungry to shut down Kobe. Kobe, the cold-blooded killer he was”, took to the air and put him on a poster (dunked on him really hard). Ben Wallace had finally met his match, the great Kobe Bryant.

Here’s a gif to help you guys visualize this.

http://bestmoveofkobebryant.blogspot.com